Kathleen Brotherton

Dear Blueberry

Dear Blueberry,

Greetings and salutations! Welcome to the start of becoming a person! We are busting out the tea cups, baking the crumpets and icing the cupcakes. We will throw open the sashes and beat the mattresses in anticipation of your arrival!

Please allow me to introduce myself. I am your Grandma. Your Mommy, whose belly you are nestled in at this very moment, is my baby as you will be her baby. You are already her baby. We had the opportunity to see you on an ultrasound the day we found out you had begun your journey to join our family. Your tiny, blinking, brand new heart brought tears to my eyes and a feeling of such great profound love, Grandma may never find quite the words to describe it. There was a transformation in the ultrasound suite that day; I watched your mother’s face as the ultrasound technologist revealed you to her for the first time. Love, adoration danced across her face but above all, a sense of protection. You instantly became her cub and she your Mama Bear.

I want to take a moment to talk to you about your Mommy before you get here. Your Mommy, Brittany, is a magical girl, just as you would be, if Grandma’s instinctual feeling about your gender is correct. Not that you won’t be perfectly magical as a boy, I just seem to think your mother glows pink at the moment. Grandma believes in all things magical and your mother, she is pure perfect magic. I’ve always been suspicious that your mother is a fairy. A beautiful fairy whose wings, if we could see them, are translucent, yet a myriad of beautiful, mesmerizing colors. She flutters her way through life with these magical wings. She can’t sit still, as is the plight of most fairies. She travels far and wide, she sees the world, she embraces life in a way that I can only hope you learn from her. Be kind to her, Blueberry. There are days she will tell you no. There are days she will make you crazy. There are days she will demand excellence from you when all you will want to do is pull the blanket over your head and hide from the world. Respect your mother; demand the same from the world. Never let a soul speak an ill word toward her. Above all else, love her.

You are scheduled to arrive February twenty-third. Enjoy the quiet moments listening to the heart of your mother. Give her hugs from the inside when she is feeling sad. Send your love to her from the inside out. Dance inside that womb like she has done since she started her journey inside my womb.

We are counting down the days till your arrival with your own set of beautiful mesmerizing wings to flutter through your own life in the same magical way.